On Thursday afternoon, we made some last-minute plans for an office party the following day. (The occasion? Everyone completing their time reports before the end of the quarter deadline. This was a momentous event indeed, definitely worthy of a celebration!) I didn't have a lot of time to bake something on Thursday night, so I decided to try a quick recipe from Baked, Root Beer Bundt Cake.The cake recipe calls for 2 cups of root beer, 1 cup of cocoa, and both white and dark brown sugar. It baked up very dense and fudgy, with a deep, heavy, chocolate aroma. The frosting is a mixture of melted dark chocolate, softened butter, salt, root beer, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar, pulsed together in the food processor (a slightly unusual technique, but it works surprisingly well). The frosting was also deeply chocolately. The recipe made a lot of frosting, more than I actually was able to fit onto the cake.
No one who tasted the finished frosted cake could tell that it had root beer in it, despite the cookbook's claim that the root beer flavor is "extremely pronounced." However, everyone loved the cake regardless. It was very tasty, and the delicious frosting made it even better. The cake might not have tasted like root beer, but I definitely agree with the cookbook's commentary that this it screams out for a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. I think that would be the perfect accompaniment to this rich treat!Recipe: "Root Beer Bundt Cake," from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.
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